FIFA Takes Control of SIFF after Budget Bungle

FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) have appointed a normalisation committee to take control of the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) after the federation's funding was put on hold whilst an investigation looks into poor accounting by the federation's administrators.

According to the OFC's General Secretary, Tai Nicholas: "For one reason or another the former administration, for the amount of activities they're involved in both internationally and domestically, weren't able to fund everything.

"The best way forward in order for football to grow in that country is to install a new administration, which was done by FIFA appointing a Normalisation Committee to run the affairs of football, and to call for new elections in a year's time."

"We've concluded lapses in financial management in terms of the accountability of where the money went. We can't prove there's misappropriation, so the current administration agreed that maybe it was time to install a normalisation for the time being, and look to stakeholders across the Solomon Islands to install a new administration."

With funding having stopped, until the normalisation committee has put in place better administration and sorted out the accounts, Solomon Islands, which have a total population of about 500,000, may have to scale back on participation in some youth tournaments.

However, Solomon Islands is expected to continue to compete in the events in which it is strongest, including beach football in which the Bilikiki Boys, the national beach football team, are ranked 15th in the world, above OFC rivals Tahiti and ahead of the USA and futsal in which the Solomon Islands national futsal team, the Kurukuru, have won four of the last five OFC championships.

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